Technology Hates Me

Don't you just hate it when technology works against you?  Isn't technology supposed to make your life just a little bit easier?

Not for me, not today.

I tried to post some stuff on Craigslist on the barter page today.  I had to write that post three times (and it was long) before it finally got published. Three freakin' times it disappeared into Never, Never Land!  Or, as the Youngest says it, "It Distappeared". 

Then,  trying to photograph some stitch markers that I'm trying to put up in my Etsy store, I took one pic and then the camera battery died.  So I guess I'll be posting more tomorrow.

Next was Google Reader not wanting to work with Firefox for some ungodly reason. 

Don't  forget the birthday party invites that I purchased online and printed myself.  Two of the numbers in my zip code were omitted and I didn't notice until after they were printed out.   Hello Mr. Sharpie!

I mean, really people, aren't computers and cameras and the interwebs supposed to help us?  Well it's just not working out for me today.  Errrgh.

Happy Birthday Eldest!

Yesterday I spent the whole day telling the Eldest that it would be the last time he would get to do "whatever it was he was doing at the time" as an 8 year old and pretending to be really sad.

Today he's acting like a peacock.  It's officially his 9th birthday!

I'm going to have lunch with him (McDonald's of course) and take his class snacks, Krispy Kreme donuts as a matter of fact.  The child may explode from junk food today.  I can just see it now:  NEWS FLASH!  Mom (age 39 forever) arrested today for exploding oldest child by way junk food.  More news at 11:00. 

We're putting off his party until the 26th due to schedule conflicts.  Luckily it'll be outdoors.  I don't know if I can handle 12 silly little boys overnight inside the house.  We'll just pray it doesn't rain then, okay?

Pooped.

Don't have a lot to show for my weekend.  My choir had a very long day Sunday that lasted from 7:45 in the morning until around 8 pm in the evening with three performances total.  Today I feel like I've been hit by a great big semi truck.  Slightly pooped even.

But somebody got lots of rest.  Look who I found on the back of our couch:

(Click to enlarge)

Now up in my etsy store.

Spinners!  Look what's up for sale in my etsy store!

Clockwise from left to right:

Falkland Wool Top/Roving, Australian Merino Wool Top/Roving, Faux Cashmere Nylon Top and Real Mongolian Cashmere Clouds!

All are perfect for spinning and/or dyeing and the wools are particularly nice for felting.

New Jewelry

An afternoon of making jewelry resulted in these today:

Have a great weekend!

Actual knitting!

The Quidditch Sweater is progressing nicely.  See?

I've begun the back and have about 10% or so done on that.  So there ya go, I have been knitting despite the kitchen renovation and children distractions!  It's a good thing too, the temperature is starting to drop daily.  The Eldest is going to want this very soon and I better have it finished in time.

In other news, I've been fighting with my new cell phone (lg cf360). I wanted to download an app that would read ebooks.  I've had zero luck on this one.  Anyone have any recommendations?

This is a knitting blog, right?

I've been feeling awfully artsy/craftsy lately.  For instance, over the past couple of days I've been working on more counter tops.  Specifically, the counters that are on either side of my stove.  I'm having to take the counters on in tiny little steps due to lack of time and dealing with children, but it's getting done!

But alas, it's been digging into my knitting time.  I'm not saying that I haven't been knitting, ya know, but I'll show you a report on that tomorrow.  It's hard to get crafty people to be completely monogamous with their hobbies, isn't it?

Back to the counters.  Here's a couple of in progress shots:

Once again, I almost forgot the before and after.  The one on the left has the first base coat of paint, the right is the original counter.

Both with a base coat.

Faux finish applied, but no resin

And this is how it looked a few minutes ago with the resin and paint touchups!

Please ignore the crap shoved into the cabinet on the left.  Having cabinets open has allowed all sorts of things to land there, like coupons and other misc. paper.  I couldn't get the stove shoved all the way back in by myself today.  It's stuck on something.  When the hubby gets in today, that'll be his job.

There's only one more counter to go, but it's a doozy.  It's easily the size of the other two combined and we are going to have to pull the sink out of it to do it right.  That's also the spouse's job since that's not something that I'm qualified to do!

I'm very pleased with how all of this is turning out.  Oh, and by the way, the new resin (EX74) is working out beautifully.  I've gone out and purchased a resin mold to make jewelry with it as well as using it on the counters.  It's way too much fun to let it just sit in bottles. 

Eek! A Mouse!

I saw a vinyl decal on a website last week (and for the life of me I can't remember where) that had a mouse hole and a clothes line on it with tiny little clothes on it.  I thought it would be perfect for the boys' room.  I kept it in black except for some tiny little flames on the mouse's shirt to mimic the flames that we have going on the roman shades and the light switch.

Here's a pic with the light switch included:

If you'll notice, this is as wide as this piece of wall gets.  There is molding to both sides and on the left is the boys' closet.  The mouse hole fits perfectly here.    It's a small, but fun detail.

And here's a close up of the mouse hole:

The color is a bit faded thanks to the camera flash, it's a bit darker in real life.  And yes, for the record, mice have a real problem making their mouse holes stand up straight and not lean to the right.

*****

Edited: because I forgot to mention the supplies used.  These are just basic acrylic craft paints.  I also used a black sharpie to clean up the lines a little bit.

One Last Post for the Day

Today's my Big Baby Brother's 34th Birthday!  Happy Bday Dude!

He used to be really cute.   

The family's still not sure what happened to change that.

Contest Results

Times Up!  Put down your pencils, um wait, you're not being tested are you?  The contest results are in.  This time around, the contest was not too popular.  No one cares if my Boy Scouts have fun or not.  Except for the four people that left me some suggestions.  To those four I say, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"  I will indeed be incorporating a bunch of your suggestions. 


I used the Random Number Generator and got the following number:

 

Please excuse the weird "a" in there.  It seems my cropping "skillz" are not in abundance today either.  Anyway, the winner is:

SAMMIE!

Congratulations Sammie!  As soon as I get your address and as soon as the Labor Day Holiday is over and the mail is running again, I'll have your yarn and pendant out to you asap!

Asymetrical Necklace

Jewelry mania has really bitten me this week.  This was today's endeavor: 

Click to enlarge!

It's worn asymetricaly.  I had a devil of a time getting a photo of this.  If it was laying down, it didn't show it off well and then when I was wearing it, most of the pics came out all grainy.  But I figure these two pics are enough for you to get the point. 

Click to enlarge!

This was a fun piece to create.  My problem solving "skillz" seem to be a bit lacking though.  It took far longer to put together than it should have. 

The black cord is a silk cord, and the silver is silver plated chain.  Almost all of the materials used in this project were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The two faceted beads came off of another bracelet that I deconstructed.  The chain connector that connects the pendant and the chains, not sure the official term on that part, is vintage from a necklace that was my grandmother's.

I love this!  Not sure what I'll wear it with, but I love it!

Counter Top Follow Up

Several people have asked where to get the Envirotex Lite and the cost.  If you are just looking for a small amount, you can check out places like Michael's.  At my local Michael's, they were carrying this product only in the 8 oz sizes at $11.99.   This size only covers about 2 square feet.  That's not enough to do the job on my huge kitchen.  Just one counter in my kitchen is 10 sq. feet.  I don't think they carry enough in stock to do what I need to do.  Another Michael's may carry larger sizes.  If they do, that's where your Michael's coupon will really come in handy.

However, You can go to the www.creative-wholesale.com website and they carry the product in the gallon sizes for $58.99.  There's also a product called EX74 that is basically the same product but has a UV filter in it to prevent yellowing, which would be really great for a sunny kitchen.  It also has more "open time" which gives you a little more leeway in spreading and getting rid of the bubbles.  Instead of 25 minutes of working time with the Envirotex Lite, you get an hour's worth of working time. You can get a 2 gallon kit of the EX74 for $105.83. 

Basically, for me it's a size and ease of use issue.  I'll probably be going with the EX74 to complete the rest of the project.  Of course, your mileage and product may vary.

As always, remember to follow the directions completely and keep safety a priority when using these products!  Wear gloves, no open flames, lots of ventilation, etc. etc. etc.

New Bracelet Up in Etsy Shop

New Earth, Sea and Grass Bracelet up in my etsy shop!

Rugs & Sweaters

Since I've been on a home decorating kick lately, I thought I'd throw out a question to all of you.  I need to find a 8 x 10' rug for my living room.  It needs to be $400 or less.  Remember the tight budget?  We've got some tax money coming back (finally) and I'm allocating some of it for a rug.   

I had a 5 x 7' rug in our living room to cover a big black spot on the floor, but it's now going to the curb.  The black spot appeared about 4.5 years ago while we were on vacation.  Evidently one or three of our zoo (3 dogs, 2 indoor kitties) decided it would be a good idea to "go" on the floor while we were gone and the house sitter wasn't there.  The sitter didn't know anything had happened.   When we got back, the damage was done.  We did the best we could to fix it barring having someone come professionally sand and strip the floors and replace the boards.  Until we can get the money to fix all of the floor problems, I need a rug. 

Anyone got any good ideas on where to look for inexpensive large rugs? 

*****

Knitting news:  The green sweater has been frogged.  For some reason, every time I've tried to knit with green, I pick a pattern, frog it and then make something that I like.  I'm hoping that when I pick a new pattern for it, things will work out.  Until then, I've begun a new project:

 

This is the Quidditch Sweater by Anne Bergeron from the book Charmed Knits.  The Eldest has been begging for it.  I figured I'd better make it for him since the last thing I knit for him was a pair of socks about three years ago.  I better indulge him now before he hits his teen years and refuses to wear anything that I make him.

*****

 Don't forget the Contest which ends September 4th!

 

New Countertop! Sorta

Wait until you see this! As most of you know, I've spent the past year doing a kitchen renovation. That would be with a capital "I" by the way. As in "I" am doing a kitchen renovation pretty much by myself. This is what has lead to the project taking an entire year.

First, there was the three, yes three, layers of wall paper to be dealt with. The bottom third layer had no primer underneath so I had to leave it on the walls. I primered over it twice before painting the pumpkin color that is on there now.

Second, the cabinets, that are still not finished. I'm getting there, I promise. My dad came and put wood trim on the cabinet and door fronts. You'll see that in just a sec. I finished painting two set of cabinets and have yet to do the third. You guys, this is a huge kitchen!

Third, and this is what today's post is about, is the countertops. We have been living with the most horrible blue laminate countertops. I cringe when I look at them. I've been abusing them so badly, cutting on them, putting really hot stuff on them and it's made no difference. They're still there. Or, at least, they sort of are.

See, we have an extremely tight budget with no room for budgets or errors. Go ahead and read that as we're almost broke. Go ahead, I don't mind. Being broke is not such a bad thing sometimes, it leads to more creativity. And boy, did we have it in Spades this weekend. Yeah, you read that right, I said "WE". My Mom was the lovely assistant on this project. Thanks to a post over on Craftster, I got inspired.

Here's where we started:


Notice the hideous blue on the countertop. I almost forgot to do the before pic. I remembered after I started the base coat.

For the base coat, we used the same paint that I'm putting on the cabinets, a biscuit color. Once this dried, we began applying paints using about six different natural sea sponges. The paints were all acrylic craft paints, seen here:


Here's my lovely assistant slaving working away:


The next step, once everything was dry and the Youngest was in bed (around 8pm) we started the cool part. We applied resin. Specifically, Envirotex Lite. I had used this resin before when making study boards. Those were so cool, but I'll have to tell ya about those at another time. Anyway, there's very little time or room for error when using this product. Once mixed, you have 25 minutes to get it the way you want it before it begins to harden.

I only did one countertop this weekend. I wanted to make sure it was going to work before moving on to all of them. This section was 9.66 square feet not including the back splash. I have three more countertops to go, two small ones and one that is about 20 square feet. I figured if the project didn't work, I would just rip it out and buy more laminate which would cost around $1100 dollars if someone else installed it. Installing laminate is not my thing.

Here's how it turned out:



Oh, and just to show you how good we really are, (I'm not bashful am I?) here's a laminate sample that we used as an example that had all the colors that I was going for:

Not bad huh?


I'm so incredibly proud of this project.

We only did one coat of resin. I have one or two more coats to pour on and give it a little more strength.

When all is said and done, we will have saved about $800.00 dollars on this diy countertop project. What do ya think? Doesn't look like laminate now, does it?


ETA the Legalese:  Please if you try this make sure you do it safely!   Resin can be toxic if handled improperly.  Use gloves to minimize skin contact and do this in a well ventilated area.  Also, the directions tell you that you can use a torch to help get rid of the bubbles.  If you do this, and I didn't because I chickened out, please follow the directions to the letter! Carbon dioxide is what makes them release.  I used a straw to blow on the bubbles to release them.  I didn't want my house to burn down in the middle of my craft project.

Fun New Site To Play With!

I found the most fun site. It's called Fun Photo Box.

I won't tell you how much time I wasted on this site, but suffice to say, I could/should have been doing other things like tackling dish mountain and laundry mountain. It's really easy, just upload a pic - yourself or someone else and in the photo effects section plug it into one of the many choices they have. The results are super fun. The Harry Potter one would be great for a Harry Potter Party Invitation. I plugged the Eldest's pic into that one since he's the big fan:

And this one? Yeah, it's just part of my campaign to become famous:

Knitting Monogamy

Knitting Monogamy can be such a pain. I tend towards working on just one project at a time. I find that if I don't do this, putting off the second project for "just a little while" results in me never finishing it.

I am totally bored to death working on my present sweater. I have doubts as to whether or not it will fit anyway. I'm just not overjoyed with the project. I may frog it and begin something else. I haven't quite decided yet. My son wants the quidditch sweater (think Harry Potter) from Charmed Knits and I already have all of the yarn that I need, so I may start that. I just know that if I put off the Buttercup sweater, it will go to UFO heaven.

I've noticed that not everyone is overjoyed with the contest prize. I have only had two entries so far. So I've decided to sweeten the pot a little. Along with the pendant I'm offering up this yarn as a prize:

Tertiary Fun! -Handspun by me (127 yds worsted weight wool)

So send me in some ideas!

Bill Manipulations

Several things have been driving me nuts lately and today I decided to take some action to fix things.

1. The first thing is my internet service. I'm being charged by AT&T for the highest speed internet available in the area. I went online today and did a speed test. Now get this, I'm supposed to be getting 3mbps download speeds. What was my actual total? .30 mbps. Somehow, AT&T misplaced a decimal there and I've been getting overcharged by a mile. So. byebye AT&T internet service and hello Clear.com where I'll be getting around 6mbps or there abouts for the same price. It absolutely irks me to be paying for a service and be getting subpar performance with my internet.

2. The second thing is no cable/dish or local channels on our tv. I'm feeling deprived. We've been without these for about three years now. So, I'm canceling my home phone land line and going with cell phones only so that I can afford the tv stuff. Besides, it's silly to be paying twice for phone service.



So this afternoon I've spent my time rearranging all my bills. It's been a stressful experience all around. I feel like I've been robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Once I've gotten both of the internet and dish stuff set up, I'll be giving AT&T the boot (except for my cell phones anyway.) I can't wait. I know my Eldest will be thrilled. He's the only kid he knows that can't get the Boomerang cartoons. How has he ever survived? :)


Don't forget to enter into the contest. Someone needs to have a non stress moment and win something free and it could be you! Jolene left me with some fabulous suggestions. Anyone else wanna play?

I feel a contest coming on!

To celebrate the opening of the AllThingsShea Etsy Store, I'm having a contest! Here's how to enter and win:

The Eldest is having a birthday coming up in September. We've picked a Cub Scout/Boy Scout/Camping theme for this big birthday bash. Help me out with some party activity ideas and you'll win yourself, or someone you love, this lovely pendant (comes with black silk cord):


ETA: New prize added! Tertiary Fun Yarn - my handspun (127 yds, worsted, wool)

Two ways to win:

1. Leave me a comment with your party activity idea (please make it camping/scout/survival oriented).
2. Leave a mention on your blog about the contest!

Both of these gets you an entry in the contest. Winner will be randomly chosen from those who enter. Contest ends September 4th! Good luck!

Etsy Shop Update

More jewelry is up in my etsy store! 2 new pendants and 4 baby charms.